As is known, many chemical and industrial processes produce gaseous products which are removed via a gas stream. In addition to the gaseous products, solid particles or liquid droplets may be entrained within the gas stream and, as a result, it is often desirable to remove entrained solid and liquid particulate from a gas stream in order to produce a pure gaseous product.
A vane separator is often used to remove solid and liquid particulate from a gaseous stream. Typically, vane separators consist of a plurality of undulating parallel plates having pockets that provide narrow zig-zag passageways through which a gas stream is forced such that the flow of gas as well as the solid and liquid particulate rapidly changes direction several times as they pass through the narrow passageways. Solid and liquid particles have a higher density and mass than gas and are not able to rapidly change direction. As a result, particulates will impinge on the vane structures and collect inside vane pockets.
Forcing gas through a vane separator at a high velocity or forcing a gas with a high particulate content may cause particulate to escape from the outlet of a vane separator. As a result, particulate may be found downstream of a vane separator and the gas stream will not be pure. The maximum operating characteristics of a vane separator with respect to variables such as gas velocity or particulate content before particulate is found downstream of the vane separator is known as “breakthrough.”
The narrow gaps between vanes, friction along vane surfaces and zig-zag configuration of a vane separator will also cause a drop in gas pressure from the inlet to the outlet. However, in many industrial and chemical applications of vane separators, it is desirable to minimize the pressure drop across a vane separator.
Furthermore, existing vane separators are also limited in the amount of solid/liquid particulate that they are able to collect along a surface given a particular gas pressure, particulate content and vane configuration. As a result, it is desirable to provide collection of particulate while requiring a minimum of vanes.
Further still, vane separators are often used in offshore applications such as on oil platforms or the like. Offshore applications require that equipment weigh as little as possible to decrease transportation costs and increase safety in extreme weather conditions. As a result, it is desirable to minimize the weight of a vane separator. Furthermore, it is desirable to use fewer components and less welding in the fabrication of vane separators in order to decrease manufacturing costs.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a lightweight vane separator enabled to provide improved collection of solid and liquid particulate while minimizing the gas pressure drop from the inlet to the outlet.
A review of the prior art reveals that a number of technologies have been used in the past for removing solid and liquid particles from a gaseous stream. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,511 discloses a vane-type mist eliminator having pocket-like channels extending along the length of the vanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,511 teaches a vane type separator having a plurality of vane subassemblies wherein gas flows from the bottom to the top.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,928,706 discloses a mist extractor unit consisting of a plurality of vertical zig-zag vanes that are provided with extensions for the purpose of creating pockets to entrap liquid particulate collected by the vertical vanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,486 teaches a vane-type separator having a plurality of vane subassemblies clamped together by bolts to separate particulate from a gas stream.
Other references include U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,056 which describes passing gas through a filter and U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,580 which describes arcuate separating traps.
While the prior art may provide a partial solution, each are limited in various ways as briefly described below.
In particular, past systems may be limited as they do not suggest or teach the advantages of having rounded leading edges on a particulate collecting pocket or a modular vane design without a continuous steel base strip. In addition, past systems do not teach the combined performance advantages of a system as described herein.